A valiant effort, but too shallow to be remembered

Rating: 6/10 (11 February 2006)

Director Michael Bay has become somewhat synonymous with high-motion action dross that malnourishes the brain and keeps the eyes busy. One could look upon The Island as his attempt to add something that might appeal to those who look for a little intellectual stimulation with their voyeurism, and in some respects, it succeeds. To a large extent, the areas in which The Island excels can be traced back to its performers and screenplay. Ewan McGregor excels at portraying a babe in the woods, despite the obvious clash this brings in contrast with his previous roles, and the cynical, cash-driven alter ego is equally believable. Scarlett Johansson puts in a brave effort to provide a foil and backup for Ewan's determination to find out just what on Earth is going on, but in the rare moments where she is expected to play solo, she is overwhelmed by the underwriting of her character. Fortunately, she works amazingly well with McGregor, and I can see she has a great future in the industry. The question with The Island, therefore, becomes one of what went wrong.
Part of the answer lies in the science aspects of the story. It has been mentioned by other critics, but it becomes obvious to anyone who has studied the deeper questions of cloning as a science that a lot of what is proposed in the film is impossible. Given that Ridley Scott anticipated this very well in Blade Runner, the deep question of how one produces a clone that is not subject to rapid ageing becomes a big disappointment in The Island as Bay utterly fails to address it. To the credit of the writers, director, and actors, they do sidestep the trap of having a clone move, speak, and behave in identical fashion to his source. Ewan McGregor's versatility as an actor is proved by his ability to act against himself, using noticeably different inflections and mannerisms. The moment when one McGregor asks the other about his Scottish accent is a marvellous piece of irony. It is safe to say that this film could not have been half of what it turned out to be without McGregor.
Unfortunately, a lot of the problem with The Island comes from Michael Bay and his inability to identify his audience. Up to the moment where our stars escape from the facility, the film is a surreal, complex question about the nature of existence, with elements of horror thrown in for good measure. The moments when we get fragments of the truth revealed to us through the eyes of Lincoln Six Echo are the most legitimately effective in the entire film. No, the real problem starts when Linclon and Jordan leave the facility to begin their exploration of the so-called real world. Bay is unable to resist the temptation to punctuate the rest of the film with car chases, explosions, and shoot-outs. To be fair, one of them is effective. But when they are piled up on top of each other, they only serve to diminish both themselves and the film. Even though it only consists of Joanna Cassidy beating Harrison Ford up a bit before being shot as she runs through several sheets of plate glass, three minutes of Blade Runner has a good deal more emotional resonance than the entire last hour of The Island. Nonetheless, Bay deserves some credit for being willing to take on such an obviously different film.
Sean Bean also proves himself to be the best of the actors who got themselves involved in the desecration of The Lord Of The Rings. His character barely has any depth, yet Sean is able to give said character definition and motivation. In a Peter Jackson film, this is something of a miracle. In a Michael Bay film, even this one, it is like proving that black is white. And therein lies the rub of The Island. Deep questions of mind-boggling importance are proposed by its plot. These questions are foremost on the collective mind (or lack thereof) of present-day society. They literally have the ability to shape the future of said society, determining whether it will ever reach the enlightenment proposed in cartoons like The Jetsons, or whether it will sink back into the relative Dark Ages shown in films like Pleasantville. In case you wonder what I am getting at with such comparisons that have more to do with the time The Island was made in, it is pretty simple. Questions like how we should treat the serious ailments that are burdening our society to the Nth degree and how ethical it is to keep people suffering deserve far deeper exploration than The Island dares to offer.
It is mainly because of the clash between shallow resolution and intriguing setup that I gave The Island a six out of ten. If you are expecting an action film with some more cerebral elements, then you will have such expectations met. If you have believed the hype that Michael Bay has finally made something that does not fit the description of Popcorn Flick to the letter, you will be disappointed.